Search results for "Cycling"
showing 10 items of 516 documents
Prolidase in the Marine Sponge Suberites domuncula: Enzyme Activity, Molecular Cloning, and Phylogenetic Relationship
1999
: The enzyme prolidase hydrolyzes the peptide bond that involves the imino nitrogen of proline or hydroxyproline; hence, it catalyzes the final step in collagen degradation. From mammals it is known that this enzyme plays a major role in the recycling of proline for collagen synthesis and can be considered to be essential for the control of cell growth. The dominant organic exoskeleton in sponges, especially in Demospongiae, is collagen and the collagen-related spongin. Here we demonstrate that crude extracts of the demosponge Suberites domuncula contain prolidase or prolidase-like activity. The complementary DNA encoding the putative prolidase was cloned from a library of the same animal. …
To what extent do our walking and cycling behaviours relate to each other, and do we cycle as well as we think we do? Piloting the Walking and Cyclin…
2022
Greater uptake of active transport has been argued as necessary for the transport system to achieve relevant sustainability and public health goals; however, the research tools used to investigate behaviour when using these modes are far less well-developed than those used to investigate driving behaviour. This study takes two self-report behavioural measures, the Walking Behaviour Questionnaire (WBQ) and the Cycling Behaviour Questionnaire (WBQ), and pilots them in the UK. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses with data from 428 respondents revealed factor structures different to those described in the limited number of previous studies that used the CBQ and WBQ. Across both questio…
Integrated Methods for Establishing the Sustainability of Urban Policies: Applying Ecological Footprint to the Municipal Solid Waste Management
2018
The Ecological Footprint (EF) method is applied here to assess alternative policies regarding the Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) management. This approach arises from two considerations. First, the MSW management certainly requires a great attention by politicians and technicians, due to its importance for effectively administrating and environmentally controlling urban contexts. On the other hand, the EF method, thanks to its holistic structure of analysis, supposedly provides a synthetic and effective measure of the sustainability of waste management systems, so allowing public administrations to prioritizing policies aimed at implementing environmental actions. Here the EF method is used fo…
Effects of ions on water structure: a low-field (1) H T1 NMR relaxometry approach
2014
Aqueous salt solutions play an important role in nature because of their effects on environmental biogeochemical processes and on structural properties of biomolecules. Upon dissolution, salts split in ions that are solvated. Water in hydration shells is subjected to molecular motions that can be monitored by (1) H T1 NMR relaxometry. This technique allowed the evaluation of the nature of the interactions between water and ions via variable temperature experiments. Examination of relaxometry properties of aqueous solutions at variable salt concentrations allowed acknowledgement of the role played by ions in either structuring or destructuring water aggregates. A mathematical model has been …
Contemporaneità Responsabile in ambiente storico: strumenti e ricerche tecnologiche
2020
Riteniamo che ci sia una pratica del fare in tema di Architettura che non possa più prescindere dalle ricadute che in senso globale abbia nei confronti dell’ambiente del tuo territorio. Il buon Architetto non dovrebbe essere del tutto convinto che le migliori pratiche vengano solamente dalla ‘innovazione’ Tecnologia in nome del progresso; oggi abbiamo il dovere di voltarci indietro ed osservare le Tecnologie già in uso e porle nuovamente in azione con ‘rinnovata’ attenzione. In futuro saranno proprio queste pratiche ‘adattive’ capaci di rigenerare l’Architettura; quindi innovazione associata a ‘rinnovamento’ tecnologico proporranno beneficio per nuove azioni del fare provenienti dal nostro …
Un percorso del fare 4 : verso una rinnovata cultura tecnologica
2020
L’architetto di ogni tempo, ha curato, programmato e progettato il territorio nei suoi aspetti funzionali ed estetici. Con il senno di poi ci si domanda ragionevolmente se questo avesse sempre fatto bene, occupandosi anche delle ricadute del proprio fare. L’architetto si è proposto quale ‘regista’ delle trasformazioni della città e del territorio, ma non siamo certi abbia sempre agito in coerenza verso l’ambiente ed il contesto. Questo libro raccoglie alcune riflessioni rivolte alla tecnologia come scienza applicata, alla tecnologia edilizia come scienza del costruire e ai processi di trasformazione del pensiero in attività formative e produttive che possano porsi in essere con rinnovata re…
Layered lower crust and mantle reflectivity as imaged by a re-processed crustal seismic profile from Sicily in the central Mediterranean
2015
Abstract Though Sicily is a key area for understanding the central Mediterranean tectonics, a number of questions on its dynamics remains open due to the lack of detailed data on the lithospheric structure. Deep reflectivity images of the African lithosphere, beneath Sicily, have been derived from the re-processing of the crustal seismic reflection stack (SI.RI.PRO. Project). Of specific interest was the imaging, beneath central-southern Sicily, of a thinned crust with a reflective, “layered” pattern for the lower crust that differs from the one, thicker and sub-transparent, of the northern-central sector. Brittle deformation in the upper crystalline crust along a low-angle normal fault and…
Inverse Malthusianism and Recycling Economics: The Case of the Textile Industry
2020
The current use of natural resources in the textile industry leads us to introduce a new economic concept called inverse Malthusianism describing a context in which population grows linearly and resource consumption grows exponentially. Inverse Malthusianism implies an exponential increase in environmental impact that recycling may contribute to reduce. Our main goal is to extend the analysis of materials selection under the principle of equimarginality proposed by Jevons. As a first result, we show the particular circumstances under which policies excluding recycled supplies are never optimal. We also aim to overcome the difficulties of reducing environmental aspects to monetary units. To …
Effect of perspiration on skin temperature measurements by infrared thermography and contact thermometry during aerobic cycling
2015
[EN] The aim of the present study was to compare infrared thermography and thermal contact sensors for measuring skin temperature during cycling in a moderate environment. Fourteen cyclists performed a 45-mM cycling test at 50% of peak power output. Skin temperatures were simultaneously recorded by infrared thermography and thermal contact sensors before and immediately after cycling activity as well as after 10 min cooling-down, representing different skin wetness and blood perfusion states. Additionally, surface temperature during well controlled dry and wet heat exchange (avoiding thermoregulatory responses) using a hot plate system was assessed by infrared thermography and thermal conta…
Architectural technologies for life environment: Spent coffee ground reuse in lime-based mortars. A preliminary assessment for innovative green therm…
2022
Spent coffee ground, the residue obtained from the brewing process, is the primary unavoidable (inedible) waste from the coffee consumption. As coffee production and beverage consumption are increasing worldwide, a more sustainable waste management is required since the usual disposal in landfill is a liability to both humans and the environment. This paper is aimed at showing a possible alternative reuse of coffee ground wastes in novel green building materials intended for thermo-plastering applications in construction, in a circular economy context. Coffee waste was used in various percentages (up to 17.5%) to assess the engineering performance of the produced bio-composite mortars. The …